FPS titles shouldn’t look pretty, considering the entrails splattered on the skirting boards and exploding eyeballs, but Vilde by Chaotic Minds manages to look like a very welcoming experience, leaving the door open, the kettle on, and even a pair of fluffy slippers to get yourself acquainted with.
We’re not saying the game is pretty because of the female protagonist; that’s not right. Besides, she’d kill you dead. No, the enchanting element comes from the softly edged landscapes and vibrant colours, making it look more like Fabledom than something like Doom. It’s all so very lovely, but at the end of the day, there are baddies to shoot.
Vilde Review
I’d be lying if I knew what Vilde was about, but you aren’t here for the story. You play as a battle-hardened Valkyrie type in this Norse-inspired arena/rogue-like shooter. From a Viking boat hub, you pick a loadout, difficulty level, slap of lippy, then jump into a handful of biomes that look the same.
After a quick tutorial that doesn’t teach you much, as there’s not much to educate on in the world of the FPS, you depart from the boat referenced above and select from a piddly machine gun to kill all enemies upon arriving in the land of Vilde.
It’s a nice old place, with lush greens and rocks that wouldn’t look out of play at soft play and an accompanying bouncy castle. If you played this on your Steam Deck, you’ll get to see the nice visuals, but it’s choppy as anything and would encourage playing the game on a laptop/desktop. It looks like a single-player Overwatch experience or a tad like MythForce. Yet getting past the presentation, everything was all a little…meh.
What Would Grimnir Say?
Stages aren’t bland arenas, but nooks and crannies filled with rocks, ledges to leap to safety/snipe from afar, claustrophobic, yet enough manoeuvrability to shake a stick at. This is mostly what you’ll be doing in Vilde as spaces are narrow and will often mean you have to run and gun. Waves aren’t overwhelming in numbers, but some strategy is required.
For lovers of cheese, Vilde has its fair share of vulnerabilities. When encountering a new wave, the entrance and exit points will close with a laser wall preventing anything thing from leaving or entering. However… keep moving backwards and you will find you’ll pass through the walls and can snipe enemies, albeit with abilities rather than ammo. This happens with some of the bosses, too. Hide behind a rock and shoot from cover for a perfect victory.
There’s a caveat: bosses can occasionally do this as well. Naturally, if you want to be a hard bastard, you’ll just tank it or avoid cover in general to use your skill. For those who want a challenge, Vilde has more than enough options in terms of difficulty levels. The default Normal mode is the easiest, and you can effectively shred enemies at times; it’s also my level of choice. P-u-s-s-y.
Gimme The Loot, Gimme The Loot
From a black and white perspective, Vilde is monotonous, easy to cheese enemies, and the ability binding is a pain in the arse when you have four options to select from, all the while dodging axes and fireballs to the head. Repetitive areas, thick NPCs, and stingy buffs mean there’s not much in the way of rewards. Perhaps you should give this a miss? Hold on just one moment.
As it’s a rogue-like, it’s going to need a hook, right? Upon death, you can return to the hub or restart the stage. If I’m selecting restart 9 out of 10 times – 10 times in a row, surely a hook exists? Yes, it does. I like the odd FPS but can’t deal with marginal gains. All I care about is whether I can aim and able to move enough to stay alive. Vilde delivers for me, and with a healthy amount of weapons (not as much as Borderlands, but a significant choice), it has enough replay value to keep playing.
During a run, you can upgrade your weapons (which carries over to new runs). This means more damage or rate of fire, and in addition to the guns, there’s a decent amount of melee options that change the style of play somewhat. The biggest additions outside of those abilities, which are mostly elemental attacks with cooldowns, are the runes that give buffs after every wave, and while they are stingy with their 5% gains, if you can stay alive long enough, they stack.
Vilde Review Summary
Vilde isn’t going to be winning any awards anytime soon or be talked about by a new generation on how it made them score, add six figures to their bank balance, or an inch to girth, but it will entertain. Vilde was a positive experience for me and did what it says on the tin. If the tin says, ‘FPS Norse-themed shooter, fast-paced and somewhat addictive. Relatively pretty, too’.
